Try these fresh salsa ideas. Pineapple and mango aren’t locally grown, but the rest are. They are great just served with chips, but they also liven up any meal – even hot dogs.

Grilled Mango, Pineapple and Pepper Salsa
1 mango, peeled and seed removed
1/2 pineapple, sliced
2 jalapeno peppers, halved and seeds removed
1/2 onion, halved
1 red pepper, quartered and seeds removed
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Grill the fruits and vegetables just long enough to show grill marks. Remove from grill let cool. Then dice into 1/2-inch pieces, except mince the jalapeno.

Add honey, lime and cilantro, and season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Corn and Okra Salsa
5-6 ears of sweet corn kernels, cut from cob
2 mild chile peppers, diced
12 small okra pods, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinager
1/3 c. olive oil
1 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

If the corn is fresh and sweet, I don’t bother to cook it or the okra for this dish. You may if you prefer. Just mix all ingredients together and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

Roasted Tomato Salsa
8 large tomatoes, quartered
2 large onions, quartered
3 jalapeno peppers, halved
4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil
2 lemons
1 bunch of cilantro

Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Place vegetables on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes. Remove, stir vegetables and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

Once cooled pulse them in a food processor until your preferred consistency. Add cilantro, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Taste as you go, using more or less of those ingredient as you wish. Sometimes I add a pinch or two of Mexican oregano.

Served chilled.

Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. (2 sticks) butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. uncooked oats
1 c. butterscotch morsels*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the sugar mixture and continue to mix until well blended. Stir in oats and butterscotch morsels.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 1 minute. Remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Makes four dozen cookies.

* raisins or cranberries may be used instead of butterscotch morsels. (But why?)

The vineyard withstood the high winds the county received last week pretty well. Except for a 3-foot section of crown molding that was lodged in the trellis, the main damage consisted of vines knocked off the trellis wires and some fruit damage. However, we still have plenty of tiny berries on the vines.

I’m trying out a few dessert recipes to serve at Della Terra Farm’s Fourth Friday Night Dinner Parties. I’ve not tried the Root Beer Bread Pudding yet, but the Double Chocolate cake is amazing.

Root Beer Bread Pudding
2-liter bottle of Root Beer
1-1/2 c. sugar, divided
6 large eggs, divided, beaten
1 c. milk
4 c. slightly stale bread or rolls, cubed
1 c. light brown sugar, packed
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided, softened
1 c. chopped pecans

Pour the root beer into a stock pot and turn the heat to medium-high. Reduce down to one cup. (May be done a day prior – it takes a while.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13×9″ pan with nonstick spray. In a large mixing bowl, mix together 3/4 cup of the root beer syrup, 1/2 c. sugar, 5 eggs, and milk. Add the cubed bread and let sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally allowing the bread pieces to absorb the liquid. In another bowl, mix and crumble together brown sugar, 4 Tbsp. butter and pecans.

Pour bread mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the top and bake for 35 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven.

For the sauce, add remaining sugar, butter, egg, and root beer syrup to a saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat. Pour over bread pudding. Serve warm or cold. It is terrific with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Double Chocolate Cake with Ganache Icing
3 ozs. semisweet chocolate such as Ghirardelli
1-1/2 c. hot brewed coffee
3 c. sugar
2-1/2 c. flour
1-1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1-1/4 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1-1/2 c. buttermilk
3/4 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease two 8″ round pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, one hour to one hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made a day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

Ganache Icing
1 pound semisweet chocolate such as Ghirardelli
1 c. heavy cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) unsalted butter

Finely chop chocolate. In a 1-1/2- to 2-quart saucepan, bring cream, sugar and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency).

Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.

I continue to prune my vineyard very carefully trying my best not to damage new buds that I want to keep. It’s tedious, and I have six rows remaining out of 20. That means I’ll be pruning for the next week, at least.
I had started tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse. They are now root bound and desperately need to be planted in the garden – which was tilled, but now full of weeds. Does it ever end?

I managed to clean up some of the flower beds and plant a little color before Easter, so at least the photos of the egg hunt look nice. I also roasted two chickens for Easter dinner. All our guests brought dishes to add to the meal and everyone is an excellent cook.

Roasted Chicken
1 large roasting chicken (5-6 lbs.)
Salt and pepper
1 bunch fresh rosemary, divided
1 lemon, halved
1 head garlic, halved
1 Tbsp. butter
1 large onion, quartered
1/2 c. carrots, large chopped
1/2 c. celery, large chopped
Olive oil

Clean and rinse the chicken, patting the outside dry. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside the cavity and then stuff it with rosemary, lemon and garlic. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under the bird.

Scatter onions, carrots and celery in a roasting pan and toss with salt, pepper, some rosemary and olive oil. Place the chicken on top and brush the skin with butter. Roast in a 425-degree oven for 1-1/2 hours, or until juices run clear when cut between a leg and thigh.

Remove chicken and vegetables and cover with foil to rest. Cut the chicken into serving-sized pieces.
To serve as the Soup-of-the-day at the winery, I made Tamale soup. I cheated a little by purchasing Costco tamales. However, the soup part is homemade and very hearty.

Tamale Soup
1/2 c. carrots, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1 c. onions, chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes and juice
1 can pureed tomatoes
1 c. zucchini, diced
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
2 cans pinto or red beans
1 canned chipotle pepper, diced with 1 tsp. adobo paste from the can
6-8 tamales

Cook carrots, celery and onions in olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper until the vegetables are soft. Add oregano, cumin and garlic, cooking for another minute or two.

Add chicken stock, tomatoes, zucchini, corn and beans. I love chipotle and it gives the soup a nice smokey flavor. If you like it hot, add a diced pepper and some of the paste. For a little heat, just add 1-2 tsp. of paste. You may also skip the chipotle for a milder vegetable soup.

Simmer the soup for about 30 minutes or until the zucchini is tender. To serve, place a warmed tamale in the bottom of each soup bowl. Cut into bite-sized pieces. Ladle hot soup over the tamale. Garnish with queso fresco, cilantro, sour cream and/or a lime wedge.

Sunday evening, I heard something that sounded an awful lot like thunder. Hmmm, I turned off the sound of the pre-Oscar show and listened. Sure enough, very clearly, I heard thunder. I believe it was Mrs. Georgia Vittitow, God rest her soul, who stated, “A thunderstorm in February means a freeze on the same date in April.” As the sole owner of a struggling vineyard in Rains County, I surely hope she was wrong, and that there won’t be a freeze on April 26. That would be devastating.

But, that had me thinking of other “old timers,” their “sayings” and how knowledge is passed, sometimes incorrectly.

I’m a third-generation Czech-American. My parents were both ESL (English as a second language) students. They didn’t have an acronym in those days, but they were the kids in the country school houses that spoke a different language at home and then learned English as they attended school. In those days it was no big deal and everyone learned English if they attended school.

I grew up and attended public schools in Arlington, certainly speaking English, but still submersed in a Czech-induced life. I grew up with traditional Czech cooking – and certainly kolache.

So, I know what a kolach is. Kolach comes from a Czech word meaning circle or wheel. It is a soft buttery pastry, usually filled with a fruit center.

The plural form of kolach is kolache. It is not cylindrical and it does not surround a sausage. However, popular in Texas, the fabulous treat with a sausage encompassed in dough is something different.

I asked my mother about it, since I kept hearing non-Czechs call them kolaches. My mom surmised that it would be very possible for leftover kolach dough to be used to make a kind of sandwich with leftovers, even sausage. It’s not a kolach – just as a hotdog rolled up in a tortilla isn’t a burrito. However, the item could have been taken to the field as a Czech-like sandwich.

When I pushed her and my dad for a name for this sausage-rolled-in-dough thing, they came up with klobasnik, or in plural, klobasniky. A klobasnik is an American creation. In the now Czech Republic or Slovakia, it isn’t a “thing.” If you tried to order one while visiting in Europe, they’d probably be confused. The confusion probably came about when some poor Czech took his simple leftover sandwich to work. Then when struggling to converse with others and with the language barrier, it may have been called a kolach. The Czech-American would have agreed that yes, in a way, it was. Thus began an annoying misunderstanding – okay, at least for me and possibly other Czech-Americans.

I make klobasniky for Reka’s Rise and Shine and other coffee shops. They seem to be well liked. I hear them referred to as “pig-in-a-blankets” and that doesn’t do them justice. Any hotdog rolled in biscuit dough could be called that.

A klobasnik should be made with the best quality sausage link that can be found, rolled in a buttery sweet-roll dough, cooked until perfectly golden-brown and finished by basting with butter.

I won’t give away my Czech grandmothers’ recipes, but here’s a kolach recipe that has been published in Texas Highways. It is pretty good, and worth a try.

Kolache*
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. sugar
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
2 pkg. dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water
2 eggs, beaten
4 c. all-purpose flour
fruit filling
posipka filling
1/3 c. additional butter, melted

Heat sour cream until warm, Stir in sugar, salt and softened butter. Set aside to cool.
Sprinkle yeast over warm water. Let stand until yeast dissolves. Add to sour cream mixture. Add eggs and flour. Mix well until the dough is spongy. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator and shape dough into egg-sized balls. Flatten into 1/2-inch thick and let rise for 10 minutes on a lightly-greased cookie sheet.

Make indentions in the middle of each ball. Add fruit filling. Sprinkle posipka over the top.
Let kolache rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush the edges with melted butter.
* Notice there’s no “s” at the end – kolache is plural.

Fruit Filling
2 12-oz pkgs. dried fruit like pitted plums or apricots
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. sugar

Cover fruit with water and cook 12-15 minutes, until tender. Drain.
Puree fruit in blender. Add cinnamon and sugar, blend until combined.

Posipka
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter, softened

Blend flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly.

My husband often complains that our freezer is full, yet there is nothing edible in it. That’s because I save scraps like trimmings from asparagus, carrots, mushrooms and onions, shrimp shells and bones from chicken, beef, pork and fish. I hate to purchase broth and stock, and I love the ability to control the flavors.

It’s not all about control, because it also makes me feel good to use things that others would throw away. If for some reason the vegetable scraps can’t be used, they at least go on the compost pile.
I use the following stock in chowders and soups. With Lent around the corner, I figured recipes with fish would be helpful.

Shellfish Stock
2 quarts shrimp shells
2 c. chopped onions
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped carrots
2 tsp. olive oil
2 quarts water
1 bundle of thyme sprigs, sage and parsley stems tied with string
4-5 whole peppercorns
1/2 c. dry white wine

Toast shrimp shells in a 375-degree oven until they lightly brown. Meanwhile, sweat onions, celery and carrots in olive oil in a large pot, cooking until the onions are translucent and the carrots and celery soften.

Add the toasted shrimp shells, spice bundle, peppercorns and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 45 minutes.

Strain and use the flavorful stock right away or allow to cool and refrigerate for up to a week or freeze for several months.

Shrimp and Corn Chowder
4 bacon slices, chopped
1-1/2 c. sweet corn kernels
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp. flour
3 c. diced potatoes
6 c. shellfish stock
4 c. arugula, kale or other peppery green vegetable
1 lb. peeled shrimp
1 c. fat-free half-and-half

Brown bacon in a soup pot. Then add corn, onions, salt, paprika and cayenne pepper.
When the onion begins to brown, add flour and stir until combined. Cook 3-4 minutes.

Add potatoes and shellfish stock. Bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Add greens and shrimp. Cook for about 5 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender and the shrimp are done. You’ll know they are done when they turn pink.

Add fat-free half-and-half and stir. I like to add cracked black pepper on top of each bowl. Serve with a slice of crusty bread.

I started making a Basil Tomato Soup recipe one summer when I had a bumper crop of tomatoes. It refers to canned tomatoes, so if you didn’t can your own, use cans of whole tomatoes from the grocery store.

Tomato Basil Soup
1-2 onions, chopped
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dried basil
6 oz. tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. chicken stock
64 oz. canned tomatoes
2 c. cream

In a large pot, caramelize the onions by cooking low and slow in the olive oil. It will take 20-30 minutes for the onions to turn a rich caramel color. Stir occasionally to make sure the onions don’t burn.

Add salt, pepper, basil, tomato paste and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes. It is important to brown the tomato paste just a little to get rid of the pasty taste. Add chicken stock and deglaze the pot.

Add tomatoes and their juice. Increase the heat and bring to a low boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and blend with a food processor or immersion blender until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings. Depending on the sweetness of the tomatoes, you may want to add 1-2 tsp. of sugar. I sometimes add just a dash of balsamic vinegar too.

Before serving, stir in cream (I usually use fat-free half-and-half.) It may be necessary to reheat after stirring in cream, but do not bring to a boil. Garnish with chopped basil and/or Parmesan cheese.

The recipe makes a lot of soup. However, cutting the recipe in half will leave you with half a can of tomato paste that tends to sit in the refrigerator forever or until trash day. So, I always make the full recipe and freeze half of it before adding the cream.

Then when you need soup quickly, just thaw in a microwave, add cream, reheat and serve.

One of my friends gave me a good tomato soup recipe. I don’t usually like recipes that consist of dumping together cans of this and jars of that, but this soup is pretty good and very quick.

Tomato Soup
1 family-sized can of condensed tomato soup
1 jar of marinara sauce (recommend Newman’s)
1 jar Alfredo sauce
quart-sized box or can of chicken stock

Dump all ingredients into a large pot. Bring to a low boil. Whisk as it heats to ensure the ingredients are well combined. Reduce heat to low and cook about 5-10 minutes. Taste and add salt or pepper if needed. That’s it – and it’s surprisingly good.